Silithcan Gleth
Silithcan (full name Silithcan, Fifteenth Son of Hessihra and Vorskarin, Hatched in the Vayu-Holding of Theskhor in the Grasslands of Emateir of the Lands of Navos on the World of Nadeshu as Scion of the Vayu Gleth), better known as simply Silithcan Gleth or by his nickname 'Sil,' is a blue-scaled male Vulron considered to be one of the most infamous and dangerous mercenaries in the Stellar Confederation and the Silver River Arm. A former officer within the ranks of the infamous Krylsmahr, the special forces branch of the Halan Xulkar, Silithcan is known for as much for his ability to kill as he is for his uncanny ability to improvise audiciously ridiculous tactics in the midst of battle. Biography Silithcan began his life the youngest member of his parents', Hessihra and Vorskarin of Vayu Gleth, final clutch within his family's estate hatchery, just outside the city of Theskhor on the planet of Nadeshu. Despite his later immense high in life, Silithcan was born both a runt and sickly, a fact that lead to much harassment during his early life. His siblings often used his as an excuse to lord over him, occasionally stealing his posessions, physically abusing him, or simply using their statue to force him into doing what they wished. The only ones not to partake in this typical sibling feuding were his eldest two siblings, his sister Adrazi and his brother Valthorin, who instead protected him and did their best to help him overcome his infirmities. Even those that he considered friends were not above occasionally jokingly picking on him for his size, despite it being a very sore spot for the young Vulron. Likewise, Silithcan often dealt with dismissals or otherwise impolite words as a result of his size from members of other Vayus, from both their heirs as well as adult members. His own Vayu was always quick to defend him when they could, but Silithcan was occasionally beaten down whilst playing in the streets of the Theskhor by other children. These fights lead to an incident where Silithcan smuggled a knife out inside his clothing, and ended up stabbing another child to death as they attempted to bully him. This marked Silithcan's first embrace of his inner psychopathic urges, and an experience the Vulron would regret later in life. Silithcan was never punished legally for his deed, his family's reputation saw to that. Instead, he was merely provided counciling for the rest of his childhood and was placed on various medications that he never found really worked. Despite all of this, by and large Silithcan's childhood was a joyful one and filled with many happy memories, as well as all the luxuries that being a member of one of the Nadeshu Vayus had to offer. Indeed, Silithcan's early life, for all it's hardships, was largely an easy one. Private tutoring, nearly endless wealth, and a family that loved him despite the hell they occasionally gave him. But, as per the tradition of his Vayu, from day one Silithcan was bred to grow into a member of the Halal Xulkar. The Vayu Gleth, one of the two original and oldest of the Nadeshu Vayus, had dedicated to themselves to defending the Aldwylsar they held so dear since, according to their history, they marched alongside Acathil Drathis himself on Ascention Day and helped overtake the corrupt and ineffectual government of the nation of Braxtiu. Initially, Silithcan's runt status made his place in family legacy uncertain. He excelled at the academic and strategic portions of his private education, demonstrating a keen understanding of the development and implementation of strategy, both grand and field-based, as well as how to properly create and adapt tactics to ensure these strategies were carried out swiftly and to the desired result. But all the while, he lagged behind all his siblings in the physical portions of his education, his smaller and sickly body unable to match the strength of others. This, combined with the occasional jeering he faced from his condition and his own occasional feelings of disinterest in pursuing his family's traditional path, lead Silithcan to often feel his parent's secretly were ashamed as a result. His parents, however, were always quick to reassure him of their love, regardless of the political weakness that their defense of him created. They did not, however, tolerate his suggestions of pursuing some other path and instead always pushed him further and further along the path of joining the ranks of the Halan Xulkar. This pushing only lead to further disillusionment from the young Vulron, but unwilling to displease his parents, he continued to put as much effort into his education as he could. Around what would have been the time he turned twelve, Silithcan finished his private education and was promptly shipped off to a nearby academy to continue his education. Whilst his sickly nature had greatly diminished over the years, he was still distinctly smaller than most students his age, and thus suffered an increased amount of bullying as a result. The fact many of his siblings, especially his eldest siblings, were no longer around to protect him meant that Silithcan was forced to defend himself physically to a far greater degree. This all changed roughly a standard orbit into his education, when he had a sudden growth spurt that sent him up to roughly 6' 9" and promptly towered over his former bullies. His lackluster physical state took time to correct, but slowly the young Vulron managed to finally gain the physique fitting of a member of Vayu Gleth. And he used it to get vengence. It was in his teenager years that Silithcan's psychopathy became particualrly evident. Whilst he never went out of his way to harm innocents or torture others, as his later reputation might suggest, he did spent most of his spare time hunting bullies and severely injuring them, to the point several were permanently crippled, with the abilities his newfound strength and size granted him as a means to vent his anger after years of being bullied for his size and his growing frustrations at pursuing a career he was rapidly losing interest in. Yet still his family's reputation protected him, and his parents only continued to push him towards being a soldier. They did punish him in small ways though and told him that they were rather motified by his actions, which eventually lead to him seeking a less harmful outlet for his frustrations. To this end, he discovered the hobby of fencing. Whilst it was merely a way to vent his feelings in the swift footwork and clash of blades, Silithcan quickly discovered he was unnaturally talented as a swordman. His ability to judge the minute body language of an opponent to judge their attacks and find holes in their defense whilst using his psychopathic nature to his advantage to hide his tells worked wonders when combined with his years of military pre-training. It did not take long for the young Vulron to equal even his instructors, at which point Silithcan branched out to begin actively competing in local fencing championships. It did not take long for him to win several, wins that attracted the attention of several professional teams interested in recruiting him. Silithcan had intended to except one of these offers, feeling he finally found a career where he could put his skills to use in a non-violent and enjoyable manner, but these offers also in turn had attracted the attention of his parents. Tired of constant attempts at rebellion to escape tradition, they pulled some strings and had Silithcan conscripted into the military at the young age of twenty-nine standard orbits. Though initially rather angry at his parents for ripping him from his academy and desired career, the Vurlon's rage was replaced by shock when he found the branch of Halan Xulkar he had been forced into was none other than the Krylsmahr. After spending a few tense week at home, where he confided his hesitance to his older sister whilst she was on leave from the Zavoya, Silithcan was shipped of to the famous Krylsmahr officer academy Azkarveld as an Azashet. Two standard orbits of incredibly brutal basic training followed, often involving the deaths of fellow recruits or Silithcan otherwise being forced to endure the worst conditions possible. Whilst he was still irrate about being forced into a career he did not want and having to follow orders he did not necessarily agree with, the thrill of it brought him joy. Especially once he was deployed for his field training, assigned to serve among the 782nd Gralthwur to gain field experience before being given a permanent billet. To Be Expanded: Field Training before incident at Memsahiel. It was close to the midpoint in his field training that he was deployed, along with several squads of infantry, to a counter-terrorism operation on a small colony on the edge of Orudatyr Sincarn, Memsahiel. A cell of Coalition fighters had snuck past the orbital defenses and managed to seize the capital city, beginning a rampant slaughter of both the local garrison and the populous. The Krylsmahr were sent in to regain control of the city and eliminate the terrorists. Unfortunately, Silithcan's drop ship was shot down during landing, and he ended up one of the few survivors. Injured, he and the remaining officers were captured by Coalition fighters, lead by the infamous Hastazar commander Shara uthos Nemkan Saukro. To Be Developed: events of capture. Silithcan's being skinned alive without dying, whilst the rest of the officers died of torture. Silithcan being rescued, found without his scales and bleeding heavily whilst whilsting through a smile as he casually with in the process of feeding the last parts of Shara's limbs to their barely living owner, the rest of the rebel group little more than mince meat. Following his rescue, Silithcan was hospitalized for several months, during which advanced medical techniques were used to regrow his lost scales and gaft them back on. The process was successful, with only a few imperfections in his scale pattern here and there indicating the process even occurred. When promptly given leave time and sent to a councilor, he was found to not even be the slightest bit traumatized by the event. At best, he claimed, he had learned how to properly torture someone thanks to Shara. His only regret was not being able to free himself and save the others before they were killed. But given his physical state, there was no way he could have escaped any faster, and he was just lucky he managed to in the first place. The councilor advised that do to his responses, and actions, he should be dismissed for being too violent for even the Krylsmahr. However, once more, his lineage as a Gleth prevented any action against him, and once his recuperation time had ended, he was back in the field to finish his training. To Be Developed: Remainder of Field Training. Career leading up to his meeting of future friend, mentor, and CO who is currently unnamed. Acquiring his notorious modified Akiash nanoblade. Silithcan follows his mentor when his mentor is reluctantly promoted to Asharl of Orudatyr Kuana, Silithcan being promoted to Ezlarslayn, aka commander of the local Krylsmahr detachment, at his mentor's suggestion and later appointed acting head of all Halan Xulkar forces in the region. Meeting of his officers, Arken Valonis and Tyrian Zayr. Silithcan covering for Tyrian Zayr as his criminal activites involving drug smuggling and illegal selling of military arms to civilian groups comes to light. Later, helping Tyrian Zayr escape capture by the Varathi and flee into the safety of the Confederation as a refugee. A long and storied over four hundred standard orbits of service, considered to be one of the most eccentric if competent officers in the Krylsmahr. It was in the four-hundred and second standard orbit when Silithcan was requested by Kuana's local cell of Varathi to partake in the testing of an experimental weapon. His Asharl mentor was free to deny the request, as Silithcan's superior officer, but left the choice up to Silithcan himself. Curious, but cautious, the Vulron accepted simply out of a desire to experience something outside his norm. What he ended up partaking in was the final straw in his military career. He, along with his personal detachment, were under orders to deliver a device into a village on a colony in Kuana that whose population was an almost even mix of all the species belonging to the Aldwylsar. It was suspected that the village harbored sympathies to the Coalition, and Silithcan had been informed that the device was being deployed as part of a field test for a means to take such positions with 'minimal, if any, bloodshed.' Thus, under the perception that the device was to be non-lethal, Silithcan carried out his task without question and then evacuated his detachment to the recommended distance. As it turned out, the device in question was a means to deploy a gas which, upon being inhaled by any of the species belonging to the Aldwylsar, results in rapid necrosis of the lungs followed by the remainder of the body, essentially killing the victims via forcing them to rot from the inside out. It was while watching the civilians die, Silithcan realized how tired he was of simply being forced to blindly follow orders without question and be lied to by his superiors about the nature of his task. And he of course knew that the Varathi had used him to justify this act, after all they had acted with the permission of one of the members of Orudatyr Kuana's High Command. Everything was above board on paper, and Silithcan hated being used like a pawn to get things perfect on paper. All of this he told to the Varathi agents that had tasked them with the goal, whilst admitting at the same time he admired the efficency of the gas. But found it distasteful, because it was much more boring to watch someone die than kill them yourself. The agents accepted his report, and promptly was sworn to secrecy as to the true nature of the operation. Of course, Silithcan was never one to keep a secret about people he didn't like. And whilst his Asharl mentor had been given a falsified report as to the nature of Silithcan's secret operation, the Ezlarslayn promptly provided the full details of the operation in a private meeting. The Asharl was particularly furious that the people under his defense had been murdered not only behind his back, but by using the people intended to protect them as a means to gain authorization to do it. The Asharl promptly took the matter to the Council of Mivra and Cynthenras Eshari Drathis, but before he could reach them, Silithcan was promptly arrested by the Varathi for disclosing classified information to parties without clearance to know it. The charge held, if only barely, until the Asharl managed to bypass the red tape with the aid of Vayu Gleth and Silithcan's eldest siblings, their skill at maneuvering political intrigue far better than that of an old soldier turned reluctant politican. In the end, Silithcan was called to testify before a military court and successfully was cleared of all charges, whilst the members of the Varathi cell responsible for the operation were swiftly arrested and convicted of crimes against the Aldwylsar and it's citizens. Silithcan, feeling he had accomplished enough in his career, attempted to seek an honorable discharge so he could pursue a career more to his liking. Much to his surprise, he was blocked. Not by the politics of the Aldwylsar or his mentor, who was indeed understanding of a desire to leave after even accidentally partaking in such a tragedy, but by his family. Once more, they used their influence to block his efforts. To prevent any every single attempt he made to be discharged fail. For Silithcan, no matter how much he loved his family, that was enough to push him over the line. He was going to live the life he wanted, even if it meant breaking the law. Following his trial and his failed efforts to be discharged, Silithcan took a long leave period to recover. At least, officially. Unofficially, he reached out to friends of his who specialized in smuggling people out of the Aldwylsar and into the Stellar Confederation to live a new life. Immigration and emigration were tightly controlled in the Aldwylsar, and he knew that his Vayu would block any legal attempt he made to leave. So his only choice was to go awhile. Under the guise of going on a hunting trip, he gathered up his familial armor, his Akiash, as well as his uniform, armor, and weapons to fully disguise what he was doing. He then secretly boarded a freighter heading for the Confederation a matter of rotations latter, garbed simply as to disguise himself. He had hoped that these efforts would ensure that his family would only notice his absence long after he was beyond their reach. Unfortuantely, he was wrong. Given his recent attempts to escape tradition, they expected he might try something drastic given his personality. They sent an agent ahead to his destination and, when they didn't arrive, they quickly started to search for where he really went. And, with the help of their Varathi contacts, they had discovered where Silithcan had truly went. They were too late to stop him from boarding the ship, but they did discover that the freighter would be making a last minute refueling before making the long Shift to the edge of Confederation space. Despite his protests, they managed to strongarm Valthorin into sending one of his frigates to intercept the vessel and retrieve Silithcan from it. The intention was never to hurt those aboard, and indeed the Zavoya marines aboard were under orders to use non-lethal tactics. But what followed was an incident that resulted in dozens of civilian deaths, the loss of the freighter, and Silithcan being officially declared a traitor to the Penrith Aldwylsar. The ship was ambushed in the midst of refueling, and forcibly boarded by the Zavoya marines. They had informed the freighter's captain they were only looking for an AWOL member of the military, but Captain made the mistake of explaining the situation to the crew. Not only did this put Silithcan on alert, but it also panicked many of the passangers. Some were fugitives or AWOL members of the military themselves, not to mention all of them were illegally leaving Aldwylsar space. In their panic over possibly being arrested, many began attacking the Zavoya marines. The troops attempted to maintain non-lethal tactics, but after a few of their number were seriously injured by the refugees chaos broke out. Disobeying orders, many of the marines began slaughtering those aboard the vessel as traitors to the Aldwylsar in vengence for their comrades and in return some of the more desperate civilians revealed smuggled coilguns. Open fighting across the freighter followed, and now Silithcan was caught in the middle. Left with little choice, not to mention more than a irritated at the sloppiness of the Zavoya in their boarding action, the former Krylsmahr quickly took charge of whatever refugees would let him and rallied them to take the fight to the marines. Suddenly, the slaughter of civilians turned into a genuine battle as Silithcan used his superior training and talents to shape the scared civilians into an effective fighting force, with himself leading the charge. Amidst of this enjoyable slaughter, Silithcan barely heard the crying of a Vulron hatchling over the gun fire. Searching a few of the cabins, Silithcan came across the hatchling in question, hidden beneath some bloodstained blankets a matter of feet from what could be presumed to be the corpses of his parents. The hatching was clearly barely a cycle old, and whilst initially he was tempted to hand the child off to one of the refugees and be done with it, Silithcan stopped himself. The Vulron felt a pang of guilt over what had happened to the child, after all his parents would be alive if the marines hadn't boarded the freighter looking for him. Not only that, but he wasn't sure if he could trust any of the refugees to actually care for the child and not just dump him somewhere in the midst of the fighting. Thus Silithcan took the boy with him, identifying him as Slyster Kething based on the information he could find on the bodies of the boy's parents. With Slyster in hand, Silithcan was ready to take command of the freighter. He had hoped to simply quickly disconnect from the freight and Shift away before they could open fire. Unfortunately, he discovered that in all the fighting that the freighter had been crippled. And repairing it would take tools, materials, and skills they didn't have. So, Silithcan went with his usual route of improvised plan. The most audicious and impossible idea possible. With a few volunteers, he proceeded to counter-board the Aultmere frigate with the intent to hijack it. The entire Aultmere crew and Zavoya marine attachment, what was left of them at least, were caught completely by surprise at this assault. They hadn't exactly expected a genuine resistance from this operation. Unfortunately, despite their superior numbers, they were still facing a member of the Krylsmahr. And that was enough to ensure slaughtered to the last with the help of some creative tactics, including Silithcan using his knowledge of such vessels to abuse the security functions of the vessel and vent portions of the ship's atmosphere. This bloodbath, whilst brutal, occurred both out of necessity to keep the refugees safe as well as Silithcan's preferrence as to not leaving anyone that could inform the Aldwylsar, not to mention his family, of the high treason he was committing in the addition to being AWOL. Regardless of reasoning, Silithcan's efforts were successful and the ship was secured. With help from the freighter's surviving crew and his knowledge of commanding naval forces, he set a course for their intended destination: the Stellar Confederation. A tense explanation of why an Aldwylsar military vessel had entered into Confederate space followed as they exited through the Shift wormhole and were promptly intercepted by their destination's local Unified Astral Navy garrison. But ultimately Silithcan, through sheer psychopathic charisma, managed to secure passage to dock a nearby naval space station. Upon docking, all the refugees were temporarily detained and interviewed. Silithcan, wearing his full Krylsmahr armor at the time for the pure sake of intimidation and his own amusement as well as clutching Slyster close to chest, was interviewed regarding what had come to pass. His bluntness, not to mention his established nature as a member of the Krylsmahr, astonished and cowed the originally hostile UAN personnel into simply letting the whole group into the Aldwylsar. When asked, whilst paperwork regarding their immigration was processing, if Slyster was his son, Silithcan simply stated yes. He had, at that time, not decided that was the truth, but simply said it because he did not trust the Confederates and was unwilling to see the incredibly young hatchling come to any harm at the hands of whatever system the Confederation had in place to take care of the orphans of hated species. With the paperwork processed, the refugees were formally admitted into the Confederation and transported to a nearby world, where they would be allowed to find transport to wherever they desired. Silithcan was uncertain what to expect, especially since he was now looking after a child, but he was ready to face it. He enjoyed the idea of a challenge. To be Developed: Silithcan's attempts to find legal work prove troubling, as most reject him simply on the basis of being a Vulron. After a time of wandering, he and Slyster settle aboard the famous Eslan Station, where Silithcan finds work as a mercenary. Eventually he meets future best friend and occasional partner Pellify Kari and her brother Tath, who in turn lead him to reuniting with his former officer Tyrian Zayr and rejoining his budding criminal organization known as the Zayr Workers Collective. Silithcan spent most of his early career eliminating the Collective's competition in increasing ridiculous ways, including singlehandedly killing the leader of the Ziankald Bytre Qhum xe, the most powerful criminal group within the Stellar Confederation at the time, and his team of Red Star bodyguards with nothing more than a spoon after said leader showed improper table etiquette. Silithcan helped solidify Zayr's rise to power, all the while doing his best to be a good foster parent to Slyster. He attempted to teach the boy to be a good and law-abiding child and tried to shelter him from the darkness of the world around him, so Slyster would never have to perform any of the acts his father did. Though Silithcan never lied to the boy about what he did, and occasionally slipped into joyously recounting his heinous acts before his son reminded him how much said recollections bothered him. Besides this, a few other traumas did occur. Silithcan was once attacked by an assassin on his son's hatching day and Silithcan ended up smothering the individual to death with the boy's intended birthday meal. The young Vulron was later kidnapped by corrupt Confederate Constabulary officers and severely beaten by them, and witnessed Silithcan slaughtering an entire Constabularly precinct as a means to rescue Slyster. Later, when he was told in a pub that no one could ever break into the Irongate Complex, he decided to do so for fun. Slaughtering his way inside, he ended up stealing a gunship and proceeded to go on a rampage that resulted in millions of CECU of damage. Simply put, pver the course of roughly twenty standard orbits Silithcan established himself as one of the best and most insane hired guns in all of the Confederation. Psychological Overview Silithcan is a complex individual, mostly owing to the pure fact he is considered a psychopath by Vulron psychological standards. Unlike human standards, psychopathy in Vulron relies more on a corruption of their latent vestigal predatory instincts. They are not inhibited entirely from feeling empathy or forming true emotional connections with others, but it is distinctly difficult. While the average Vulron in their youth often displays the need to play fight or otherwise 'establish dominance' over their peers through what can be considered bullying, psychopaths take more of a delight in taking it one step further. They prefer to actively kill or psychologically ruin their opponents during the youthful years and occasionally beyond, leaving them unhinged or simply broken messes that no longer could possibly rival them. At this, psychopaths like this are unnaturally skilled, and after a bit of study they can apply this to even non-Vulron beings. Silithcan himself takes great pride in the fact his training as a Kryslmahr and the horrors of the Hastazar Insurrection aided in his ability to use psychological warfare. As they grow, most psychopaths learn to control their instincts, and use them towards more socially acceptable outlets, as Silithcan did with fencing and his tours of duty in the Krylsmahr. When it comes to dealing with others, Silithcan and all other Vulron psychopaths view people as two distinct categories. Irrelevent or Possessions. Indeed, due to their enhanced predatory instincts, they tend to view the people they care about as closer to things they own than simply loved ones. For Silithcan, this is especially noticable with his son Slyster, who he protects like a valuable treasure and often maims or kills anyone who even slightly disrepects the young Vulron. Meanwhile, Silithcan's uncaring attitude when it comes towards innocents and those he is told to kill can be attributed to the former category, but even then Silithcan has shown himself capable of empathizing them if they do not offend him in any way. Further, despite all of the above, Silithcan is incredibly polite and takes pride in the fact he attempts to learn the proper etiquette of all species he has extensive dealings with. Indeed, as much as Silithcan is an expert psychological warfare, he is also a master of understanding how to manipulate others into being sympathetic towards him or otherwise at least minimize the hatred that would come from his actions. Often times, after killing someone, he'll donate a portion of his payment towards their family or next of kin, as a means of reparations. In cases where he actually finds himself sympathizing with the person he has to torture or kill, he may even aid their family as repayment for his actions. Further, Silithcan generally doesn't partake in his more violent or mentally scarring tendencies tendencies very well when in casual social settings. Often time, one is more likely to have a drink with him in the pub and have an intellectual conversation of sorts about the events of the day. That is not to say he won't slip and casually admit some heinious act he committed, but he is far from threatening and indeed can generally be considered personable, in contrast to many other Vulron psychopaths. Silithcan's noble upbringing may have played a hand in this, as well as the years of counciling he recieved to help manage how he projected himself on others. Indeed, when it comes to intimidation, Silithcan prefers a more theatrical and occasionally cartoonish way of threatening others compared to the more brutish tactics one would expect from someone as amoral as him. Indeed, this is rather deliberate, generating an eccentric and strange juxtaposition of silly and serious that leaves one never certain whether he's simply joking or serious. When combined with his deadpan delivery of the most ridiculous threats, his frequently audacious means of accomplishing his goals, and his former Krylsmahr service, an odd layer of plausibility covers even the most ridiculous of his suggested acts of violence. Outside of his psychopathic tendencies and nobleman's disposition, Silithcan is notorious for being incredibly sarcastic and blunt. Whilst, due to having learned Confederate Standard almost four hundred years prior to coming to the Confederation, he speaks in a generally antiquated and eloquent way and he ensures to keep up the proper mannerisms in polite company, when he is offended he will often make curt yet still gentlemanly insults towards their person. Likewise, whilst Silithcan is personable in casual settings, he never once quite hides what he is. He introduces himself plainly as a killer and a psychopath, never minces words or uses polite euphamisms when speaking of his work, and just generally believes in honestly presenting himself rather than trying to make it seem as if he is somehow better than the scum he knows he is. Notable Equipment and Attire To Be Elaborated: Silithcan wears a forest green suit of Kyldelspar combat armor, personally crafted for him by his Vayu's armorsmiths. It is covered in ornate engravings inlaid with gold, several of these ingraving making up the crest of his Vayu as well as the sigil of the Penrith Aldwylsar. On his left hip, he wears a holster that contains his Sayrtisa KR-68 burst-rifle. His waist is surrounded by a metallic belt that matches the material of his armor, with the city crest for Threskhor on the belt buckle. Several containers and objects are attached to it, including three extra ammunition tubes for his burst-rifle, basic first aid supplies, two grenades attached to his back, a pouch holding his communciator and dat-tablet, a pouch for his CECU chit, and his Akiash hanging from a specialized sheath. Occasonally, he wears a red cloth wrap around his neck that hangs over his left shoulder.